Our Hearts Are Restless

To St. Michael in Time of Peace - G.K. Chesterton Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning, Michael of the Army of the Lord, Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael, Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael, Under the fullness of the white robes falling, Gird us with the secret of the sword.When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven, Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky, Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest, Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High: Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn: Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return. Down through the universe the vast night falling (Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!) Far down the universe the deep calms calling (Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!) Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness, In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and t...

At the request of my cousin, who is an Assembly of God minister, I wrote a synthesis (as best I could whip together in a few hours) of the top 5 differences between Protestants and Catholics.  It was hard to narrow the list down to 5, because of course I wanted to include every topic, all of the arguments, all of the ramifications.  But I did my best to keep it to a simple presentation of Catholic belief. The five topics I chose are the papacy, the Eucharist, Mary, Purgatory, and Sacred Tradition.  Thanks to Catholic Answers, I had scriptural references and great explanations at my fingertips through  www.catholic.com  and  Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth , a handy little tract.  Thanks be to God, I just happened to have that little book with me, and it came in very handy.  A lot of the explanations below are only slightly modified from that book.  I'll make this a 5-part series for the next Saturdays! All of Catholic teaching hinges on the doctrine of the Incarnation: that Christ ...

It's been a long week around here - so naturally, we decided to dress up and wander through the woods.  Christendom's campus and trails are especially suited for Saturday afternoon rambles.  It was a gorgeous day - not too warm, not too cold, sunny with a handful of fluffy clouds.  I think we might have weirded out a few people as we walked across campus, but it was well worth it.  After all, it's not the weirdest thing to happen.  One of the highlights was the bald eagle we spotted.  It was perfectly framed by tree branches, just barely within range for pictures, and sat on the branch for a good fifteen minutes.  We named it Stanley, as in "Fly away, Stanley!  Be free!"  Okay, so we get a little crazy sometimes!  For your entertainment, here are a bunch of pictures from our woodland adventure.

[caption id="attachment_1127" align="aligncenter" width="522"] Apparently Alex is a cat person. We have a friendly little cat who was very interested in sitting on Alex's lap on Saturday.[/caption]

One of the many reasons I love Christendom is the beauty, present in so many ways on this campus.  There’s the immediate beauty, of course – a campus in a valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in a bend of the Shenandoah River, with majestic views on one side and tangled, fantastic woodland on the other.  We’re far enough away from light pollution that the stars are vibrantly clear.  I could even see the Milky Way a few days ago!  This Wednesday, the first quarter moon was stunning in the clear sky of early evening.  I took a few minutes away from my responsibilities and grabbed my camera.  Unfortunately, only one picture turned out with any clarity.  While it fails to do the brilliancy of the moon any justice, I rather liked the composition.  The statue is an image of Our Lady that stands tall on a pillar outside of the college library. There is more beauty, also, to be found at Christendom, including the beauty of dance.  I snapped a few pictures of Contra practice after I went out moo...

  At the request of my cousin, who is an Assembly of God minister, I wrote a synthesis (as best I could whip together in a few hours) of the top 5 differences between Protestants and Catholics.  It was hard to narrow the list down to 5, because of course I wanted to include every topic, all of the arguments, all of the ramifications.  But I did my best to keep it to a simple presentation of Catholic belief. The five topics I chose are the papacy, the Eucharist, Mary, Purgatory, and Sacred Tradition.  Thanks to Catholic Answers, I had scriptural references and great explanations at my fingertips through  www.catholic.com  and  Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth , a handy little tract.  Thanks be to God, I just happened to have that little book with me, and it came in very handy.  A lot of the explanations below are only slightly modified from that book.  I'll make this a 5-part series for the next Saturdays! All of Catholic teaching hinges on the doctrine of the Incarnation: that Chris...